


Keep on loving you

by moonlight_petal



Series: Fiction inspired by music [3]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode: s02e09 CD-ROM + Hoagie Foil, Family Feels, Fluff, Inspired by Music, Jack isn't above threatening, M/M, talk about emotions, there might be talk of marriage, trouble at the hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 07:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_petal/pseuds/moonlight_petal
Summary: Jack muses about what changes since getting together with Mac and what didn't while waiting for him to wake up in the hospital. Back at home Mac gives him a hint for the future.(Follows 'Can't fight this feeling' and 'One lonely night')





	Keep on loving you

**Author's Note:**

> That's the last part of this trilogy and I promise it's the last REO Speedwagon song in this series. XD
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, I myself am not all that happy with it but well... anyway...

** Keep on loving you **

****

~*~

 

 _Baby, I'm gonna keep on loving you_  
_'Cause it's the only thing I wanna do_  
 _I don't want to sleep, I just want to keep on lovin' you_

 

                         'Keep on loving you' - REO Speedwagon, 1980

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles, 2017**

**20 days until Christmas**

Keeping Angus MacGyver safe had been Jack's first priority for years. First it had been an assignment like every other before that until it wasn't anymore. Jack had made his peace with it over time and up until a year ago what Jack had feared the most, had been dying in the line of duty keeping Mac alive or -even worse- losing Mac in the line of duty failing to keep him safe without ever having told him how he felt.

 

Since that particular confession had been made, one might have thought Jack's fears would have lessened a bit, nothing to regret anymore, right? But the ex-Delta had actually surprised himself with the fact that losing Mac or having to leave him behind long before they had a chance to actually become old and wrinkly (well, older and more wrinkly in his case) together, scared him even more.

 

And Mac seriously didn't make it any easier on him. First there had been their personal issues with settling in their new relationship but after their spectacular blow out, when Mac had scared him half to death at first, they had gotten a better handle on it all. He had been prouder than ever before of his blond lover when he had finally explained to him that he had asked Matty for a recommendation for therapy because he wanted to actively try to work on his abandonment issues.

 

So that was one thing that regularly occupied their time together because on some days Mac couldn't deal all too well with all the memories and emotions these sessions brought out in him and Jack did his best supporting him at all times. Sometimes he accompanied Mac to the sessions and one particularly memorable time his therapist had asked them all to join. That had been probably one of the craziest hours Jack experienced with their little makeshift family all there. He also suspected that this had been the first and last time Mac's therapist would suggest something like this. She seemed a little rattled afterwards and Jack had been kind of surprised that she hadn't suggested therapy for all of them as well. They probably could all use it but for now Mac was the priority. (Not that Jack hadn't thought about suggesting that Riley could go as well since she did have similar issues like Mac, in which Jack didn't have an insignificant role himself sadly. But one at a time.)

 

But all that personal stuff aside, Mac also drove Jack up a wall with his reckless plans on missions all the time. First they barely managed to rescue him from that channel thing where he otherwise would have drowned if the force of the water rushing in hadn't snapped his neck first.

 

Then they had been lucky to escape a nuclear catastrophe with only seconds to spare. True in hindsight it had been a really exhilerating experience but in the moment itself? Jack would be lying if he said he hadn't already been sending his final, silent goodbyes to heaven. The only upside of that particular mission had been that they would have died together which really was only a small consolation.

 

And it didn't help Jack one bit when Mac went missing. Taken by their very own psychopathic nemesis and with absolutely no clue *where* he had taken him. Jack was the first one to admit that he had lost it that day, completely and utterly lost it. But thankfully neither Bozer, Riley, Cage or Matty blamed him for it which was a relief given that Jack blamed himself already enough for all of them.

 

The point was, they always had a really dangerous life. And in all honesty the Phoenix Foundation's top team's penchant to attract the attention of the seriously crazy was baffling at times but for some reason it seemed to Jack that ever since they got 'together', the danger doubled.

It probably was just him, truth be told, but it still felt like it and trips to the freaking Bermuda Triangle, Nigeria and Ecuador didn't help that feeling particularly.

 

And all this brought Jack to the point they were at now, namely Phoenix Medical where he waited for Mac to wake up, as gently as possible trying to hold and help him through the cramps and pain the blond had to endure following the nerve gas exposure. This one really drove Jack's fear home like nothing before. He had come so close to actually losing Mac this time that his chest still hurt thinking about it despite knowing that his partner would be back on his feet again soon enough.

 

The real kick in the gut had actually happened after the initial exposure though. Now Mac was settled in Phoenix Medical but at first Matty had sent them to a specialized military hospital in New York which had been a lot closer. Jack had been happy with that decision because the sooner Mac got treatment the better but his happiness about that ended very, very soon when they refused to let him see his boy. It had been utterly ridiculous, even Cage had agreed with him on that, but they seriously decided to follow protocol about no one inside but close family to the patient until Matty called back in to rip them a new one. That had been slightly satisfying but until then, it had been the longest hour in Jack's entire life. Luckily Matty had been smart enough to inform them about Jack's general refusal to adhere to visiting hours of any kind at the same time so at least nobody gave him any grief about staying by Mac's side around the clock.

 

Two days they stayed in New York for them to make sure that the treatment did it's job before they packed Mac into a patient transport and flew them all out to Los Angeles where they were now.

 

Jack hadn't left Mac's side there either other than to grab a quick shower and a change of clothes much to the frustration of Riley and Matty. They meant well, he knew that, but there would be enough time for proper sleep when Mac was completely out of the woods and not in so much pain anymore.

 

"You look like crap..."

 

The older agent startled out of his gloomy thoughts, eyes snapping to Mac's face where just a tiny hint of baby blue gazed back at him, lips pulled into a tired smile.

 

"Well thank you, love... I'll have you know, you're not looking so hot yourself right now..." Jack smiled back, a small part of the tension he had felt for days slowly melting away. "I'm glad you're awake anyway..." he squeezed the hand he had been holding at all times a bit and leaned up to press a small kiss to Mac's forehead. "Don't you ever do something like this again, you hear me!"

 

"Yeah, I hear you, I'll do my best, I promise. Sorry..." Mac's voice was raspy from disuse and a hard cough shook him after only those few words.

 

"Take it easy, okay... it's good that you're awake but you still have a long way to go with this one..." Jack held the ever-present cup with the straw to the blond's lips so he could drink something.

 

"Yeah I know... I feel like I got run over by a truck... twice." Mac chuckled softly, sinking back deeper into his pillow. "You haven't been sleeping, am I right?"

 

"I did sleep a bit, now and then, don't you worry about me, I'm fine... you're the one who barely made it out alive... but speaking of sleep, you probably should go back to sleep. You need the rest to get better, love!" lovingly he trailed his fingers through the blond hair with his free hand. It was obvious that Mac wanted to argue the point, wanted to stay awake or try and make Jack go home but he voiced none of that, knowing it was a lost cause. His eyes drifted shut on their own and he selfishly wanted Jack close by as well.

 

"Yeah alright... love you..." Mac murmured instead before sleep claimed him again and Jack hoped it would be a while until the next cramp would rack his partner's body and turn restful sleep into more of a nightmare.

 

"Love you too..." he whispered silently.

 

~*~

 

A week later Mac got discharged to heal the rest of the way at home. Of course every single doctor at Phoenix Medical already knew that 'rest at home' was an entirely foreign concept for the blond agent but they told him anyway and hoped that the other members of the team would keep an eye on Agent MacGyver.

 

The first stop in his own four walls was the shower for Mac. Showering at Medical never was the same and the scent of antiseptic and hospital seemed to cling to him at all times. He needed to change that and Jack understood that need very well, knew it himself.

 

"You know? I know it's an utterly terrible thought but I actually am quite happy Bozer is still in spy school and not here. This whole ordeal would have killed him." Mac called from the bedroom where he put on fresh clothes afterwards. "I sincerely hope none of you called him when it happened..." he added when he came back in the living room where Jack was waiting with a raised eyebrow.

 

"You really must think we're all idiots! Of course we didn't call him, it's not like he could have done anything, he couldn't leave in the middle of the course to make sure you're alright and he couldn't afford to be distracted with worry for you either. And Bozer would have been the absolute epitome of worried distraction as we all know. So no, Bozer remains blissfully ignorant to you getting yourself almost killed for the greater good once again until he returns. But then, my dear, I will personally inform him about this and sic him on you... that should keep you from doing something stupid like that again." Jack grinned almost evilly which made Mac gulp nervously.

 

"You can't be serious..." he asked softly, almost pleadingly as he dropped on the couch next to Jack who immediately curled one arm around Mac.

 

"You bet I am, Mac. For one, Bozer needs to know. It wouldn't do for him to find out at some inopportune time on a mission because one of us makes a reference or something, it would distract him then just the same plus he would be pissed off at us for keeping something like this from him, you know that and secondly... well, secondly I know you promised me already but sometimes I think, when Bozer asks you not to do something it just carries more weight than when I do. Not -let me finish-" he held up his free hand when Mac made to interrupt him. "Not because he's more important or anything. I know, it's different with us, but mostly because... when I ask you to stay safe and not do anything stupidly dangerous, I know there's a huge level of hypocrisy in the statement because I'm not much better but Bozer... Bozer is very different in that aspect and I think that makes the words more meaningful, if that makes sense..."

 

Mac thought about it for a second and then slumped against Jack's side because his thought process was totally sound. He didn't put more importance to Jack's words over Bozer's or the other way around, or any of his family of choice really, but with always careful and thoughtful Bozer, it certainly was different.

"Yeah alright... but please, let me tell him when he comes home? I think it might be better to tell him myself..."

 

"Fine, I can work with that!" Jack squeezed Mac gently and pressed his lips against his temple. "You tired? Hungry? Anything?"

 

"Neither at the moment really, just glad to be at home again finally. When will the others get here?"

 

"Not for a couple of hours, Riley's working on a security check of the Phoenix server system and I'm pretty sure that Matty has Cage do some super secret job interrogating whoever... so yeah, I doubt we'll see any of them before six..."

 

The blond hummed in understanding, smiling happily at Jack's rough fingertips gently massaging the nape of his neck.

"Good, good... maybe... maybe I should take a short nap then after all, don't want to fall asleep with the others around later on..." he murmured moments later and sounded already half asleep.

 

Jack grinned, not stopping his gentle ministrations.

"You do that, love... you probably should lie down though..."

 

"Don't want to get up..." Mac disagreed, wrinkling his nose at the idea which made Jack chuckle.

 

"Fine, I got you..." he said, easily turning to the side, leaning his back against the armrest of the couch and pulling Mac between his outstretched legs, pillowing his head on his chest. Mac had probably already been asleep the second his head had landed on Jack.

 

~*~

 

The almost complete family reunion (minus Bozer) had been a happy one. Riley and Cage had brought back several boxes of Chinese take-out *and* pizza because the two women had reasoned that they needed something to eat with Bozer not there to cook and that Mac surely was starved of junk food after eating hospital food for so long. They hadn't been wrong.

 

Matty arrived a little later with two tubs of ice-cream, apparently following the same idea as well. Normally she would have gone for beer in addition to the food but since Mac was still on medication she had opted for dessert instead.

 

The three women had excused themselves later on when everyone noticed Mac getting tired once again.

 

But Mac hadn't just been tired, he had also turned thoughtful again. In fact, during the gathering he had first learned about the trouble Jack, Riley and Cage had run into in the hospital in New York, when the blond woman had made a comment on that. That the man had been surprised, if not shocked, would have been an understatement.

 

"Jack?" Mac asked when the older man returned outside after quickly taking the trash and bottles inside. There were times when he turned into quite the neat freak, especially when Mac wasn't all that well he made sure that everything was clean and in order.

 

"Yeah?" he replied as he pulled his chair closer to Mac's and covered them both with a soft blanket he had taken from the couch. Winter in LA wasn't what you would call 'cold' but it could turn rather cool at night anyway.

 

"Was it really that bad? Back in New York?" the blond wanted to know, still unsure what to think of what he heard before. It had never been an issue before afterall. But then, despite his many trips to the hospital, he couldn't remember any of them staying at a 'normal' hospital before, as in one not affiliated with the Phoenix of any kind.

 

Jack stayed silent for a second, thinking about his words.

"It was, yes... we were the ones to take you there, Matty had arranged everything even before that already but the moment they took back for check-ups and treatment it was like we didn't exist anymore because we weren't 'close family' in the literal sense. They didn't care when we told them that we are all the close family you actually have... it took Cage all her knowledge and abilities to at least extract some basic information about your condition out of them, so that we at least knew what was going on until Matty could take care of the problem. For over an hour we sat there in the waiting room with nothing but 'he's stable' to hold on to." he recounted the situation. "I've felt pretty useless waiting for news outside of ERs before already but this... this was on a different level entirely. I don't even know... Cage just kind of shut down, she tried her best to get us information and then she retreated into a corner, not moving the entire time while Riley and I took turns pacing around the room like caged animals or something..."

 

Mac swallowed thickly, turning his gaze to Jack, studying the profile of the man who was staring up into the dark sky where there should be thousands of stars they just couldn't see.

He couldn't even imagine how that had felt for them but he supposed if the roles had been reversed and Jack had been the one in treatment and Mac himself on the outside, he would have gone crazy.

"I'm sorry, Jack..."

 

The older turned his head and caught Mac's blue eyes, which seemed even lighter against the darkness of the night.

"Nothing to be sorry for, love, it's not like you could have known or changed in that moment..."

 

The blond swallowed again when a thought crossed his mind as he looked into Jack's deep eyes.

"Indeed I couldn't but... there might be something we could do to prevent this from happening again in the future..." he whispered, his voice wavering slightly with emotion.

 

Jack inhaled sharply when he figured out what his partner was hinting at. He never really had thought about it much before, marriage had never really been a thing that had made his to do-list. Mac however, Jack knew, had considered it before, a long time ago with Nikki, before their world had gotten turned upside down.

 

"Is that something you would consider? With me, I mean?" he asked then, voice rough with insecurity.

 

Mac's lips turned into a bright and sincere smile.

"You're the only one I would consider this with now. I firmly believe that this is forever... however long 'forever' is in our line of work. Point is, you're the only one I want, so yes, I would absolutely consider this, with you! And just so we're clear, not only for the sake of getting information at the hospital, should one of us end up in such a situation again." the blond replied, stressing the last sentence especially by taking Jack's hand in his, intertwining their fingers.

 

A second later however, his smile turned a little more teasing.

"Provided of course, you ask nicely first, Mr. Dalton."

 

At first Jack was stunned by what Mac was saying. They didn't always talk about their feelings so openly, especially Mac still had some trouble expressing them, so this confession was even more meaningful. That alone probably was already the reason why Jack didn't even try to argue the point that Mac could do the asking just as well. Not to mention that deep in his heart Jack knew, if it came to proposing, he wanted it to be him. (And that had nothing to do with the fact that Jack definitely was more romantically minded than Mac.)

 

Instead Jack pulled Mac's hand to his lips and grinned.

"Challenge accepted."

 

(That had been roughly two weeks before Christmas and immediately Jack intended to make this year unforgettable for his partner, little did he know that he would be right about that but for entirely different reasons and that his proposal would have to wait a bit longer.)


End file.
